San Bernardino County
Biographies
JOHN CONGREVE,
one of the well-known business men of Riverside and San Bernardino County, with which he has been identified for many years, is the general manager of the Riverside branch of the Pioneer Lumber and Mill Company, one of the largest and best known lumber enterprises in Southern California. The Riverside branch was established in January, 1886, under the firm name of William H. Perry Lumber and Mill Company, and continued until January 1, 1887. The present company was then organized with M. A. Murphy as president, and S. H. Moot, secretary, and at that time Mr. Congreve took charge of the Riverside yards as manager. Mr. Congreve is a well trained business man, who came to Southern California more than thirty years ago, after a long business career in the Eastern States, and ever since his arrival has been connected with the lumber interests of Southern California. There are few, if any, men in that business that are better qualified to meet the growing demands of the trade than he. The few facts obtained of his earlier life are of interest. Mr. Congreve was born in Waterford County, Ireland, January 3, 1827. His parents were in indigent circumstances, and from early boyhood he was dependent upon himself for support and education. At fifteen years of age, when more favored youths were pursuing their school studies, he started in life as a boy before the mast, in a seafaring life, following that occupation for the next seven years. By his attention to his duties and quick intelligence, he mastered the details of his calling and rose to a position among the subordinate officers of his vessel. In 1849 he found himself in the Southern States, and he located first in Florida, engaged in steam-boating on Tampa bay, and thence to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1852, and there engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was successful, and in the years that followed ranked among the solid merchants of the city. The war of the Rebellion, that was inaugurated in that city in 1861, found him conducting a prosperous and profitable business, but the blockading of the Southern ports that soon followed produced a general stagnation, and eventually broke up his business, and left him financially ruined.
Mr. Congreve, though a strong opponent of the secession movement, and a Union man, was compelled to take a part in the stirring events of that date. He was a member of the Montgomery Guards, and when they were called out at the commencement of hostilities, shouldered his musket and appeared for duty. His command was stationed at Cummings Point, on Morris Island, and he saw the first gun fired upon Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, the report of which inaugurated one of the greatest civil wars of modern times, and at the sound of which hundreds of thousands of America's most gallant sons rushed to a combat that did not end until more than four years later. Mr. Congreve's strong Union sentiments were known, and he was subjected to many annoyances, and almost persecutions, made with an object of compelling him to enter the Confederate service. He escaped entering the ranks, but was employed in a civil capacity with the sutler's department of the army. In 1864 he managed to secure a position, which his former seafaring life had fitted him for, upon a blockade runner, bound for Nassau. The voyage was successfully accomplished, and from that port he proceeded to New York, and there engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1868.
In that year he came to California and located in Los Angeles, and soon after entered the employ of J. G. Jackson & Co., in establishing the first lumber yard ever opened in that city. In 1875 he was the agent for Perry & Woodworth, and established a lumber yard at Spadra, and had charge until 1875, when he established the Colton yard for the same firm. Mr. Congreve was the first business man locating in that city, and established the first business conducted at that point. A year or so later he returned to Los Angeles, and with the exception of the time spent in an extended tour through the Eastern States and Europe, was engaged in the lumber business in that city until coming to Riverside in 1887. He did not come as a stranger, the old colonists of Riverside had known him for years. As the railroad had advanced in the direction of their colony, he had followed with the lumber to meet their increasing demands, and his arrival in their midst, with the well-stocked yards of the Pioneer Company, was hailed with pleasure, and considered by all as a most desirable acquisition to the city. Mr. Congreve promptly identified himself with Riverside and her interests. In political matters he is a Republican. He is a member of Evergreen Lodge, No. 259, F. & A. M., of Riverside, and still retains his membership with Solomon Lodge, No. 1, of Charleston, South Carolina, the oldest chartered lodge in the United States, having received its charter in 1735.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 690-692
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
EMIL ROSENTHAL,
a well-known citizen of Riverside, is a pioneer of that
colony, and since 1872 has been one of the leading business men of the city. Mr.
Rosenthal is a native of Germany, born in 1845. At the age of twenty years he
started in life, casting his fortunes with the New World. In 1865 he came to the
United States, and located in
New York; was employed in business pursuits for the next four years. He then
crossed the continent, and established himself in San Francisco, but later came
to Los Angeles, and thence, in 1872, to Riverside, where the rich and populous
city now stands; there being then but a straggling hamlet. Mr. Rosenthal early
saw what would be the result when the rich and prolific soil of the valley
should be brought under cultivation. He established a general merchandise store,
the pioneer store of the valley, on the west side of Main street, near the
corner of Eighth, under the firm name of Lyon & Rosenthal. Their business
increased with the growth of the colony, and they erected the Lyon block, on the
corner of Main and Eighth streets, which the firm occupied. This firm took the
lead in mercantile enterprises, and retained it throughout. Mr. Lyon died in
1882, and Mr. Rosenthal conducted the business until 1886, when he sold out to
Frankenheimer & Lightner. During his years of mercantile operations, he had also
conducted an extensive insurance business, and upon his retirement from
merchandising, he formed a partnership with J. T. Jarvis, under the firm name of
Rosenthal & Jarvis, establishing a real estate and insurance business. This
enterprise, under his successful management, ranked as the leading real-estate
firm in Riverside. Mr. Rosenthal was the prime mover in the business, and was
one of the largest operators in Southern California; the placing upon the market
and the sale of the lands of many additions to Riverside were entrusted to him.
In public improvements and enterprises he has taken an active part; among the
incorporations that have added so much to the building up of the city, and with
which his name is associated as a stockholder, are the Citrus Fair Association,
Riverside & Arlington Railway, Riverside Gas and Electric Light Company,
Rubidoux Hotel Company, and others. He is a director of the Riverside Land and
Irrigation Company. Besides his extensive business pursuits, he has for years
been engaged in horticultural enterprises, and placing upon the market some of
the finest groves in the colony. His home place, of ten acres, is one of the
representative orange groves of the city. It is located on Pine street, corner
of Eleventh, where he has a beautiful residence. The orange trees of his grove
are of budded fruit, planted in 1881 and 1882, and his success as an orange
grower is best attested by stating the fact that his orange crop of 1889 sold
for $3,000.
Mr. Rosenthal is well known throughout the city and county. His years of association with the leading business men have been characterized by honesty and integrity, and have gained him a large circle of friends. In political matters he is a Republican. In 1886 he was appointed a Notary Public, and has since retained the office. He is a member of Evergreen Lodge, No. 259, F. & A. M., and also of Riverside Chapter, No. 67, Royal Arch Masons.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 692
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler